Thorpe back with a hundred in championship

Doubts about Graham Thorpe's fitness to return to international cricket after his lengthy absence from the game were dispelled at the Rose Bowl as he helped himself to 143 off the Hampshire attack. Surrey already enjoyed a lead of 91 on the first innings, but acting captain Ian Ward extended that with an innings of 156 - his second hundred in the match. When he was joined by Thorpe, they added 239 for the third wicket. At the close, Surrey had lost eight wickets and led by 513.

Something of a flourish from the tail was not enough for Lancashire to avoid the follow-on against Kent. They were bowled out for 197, but Mark Chilton and Stuart Law made sure there would be a much better performance second time around. They shared a third wicket partnership of 164 before Law was out for 90. Chilton is still there with 89 and Lancashire lead by 16 with seven wickets remaining.

Warwickshire, like Kent, have designs on second place in the table behind Surrey, and they had a good day against Yorkshire. Dominic Ostler converted his overnight century into a double and Warwickshire reached 601 for nine before declaring. With Matthew Elliott hitting 74 and Craig White 53, Yorkshire were on 261 for six at the close, still 340 behind.

Somerset were second last season, but after defeat at the hands of Leicestershire by an innings and 18 runs, they consigned themselves to the second division next season. Leicestershire's innings came to an end with the total on 310, but Somerset simply melted away in their second innings. Their first seven batsmen could only muster 33 off the bat as Javagal Srinath reaped figures of five for 25 and Somerset were badly beaten inside two days.

In Division Two, Middlesex extended their lead by beating Derbyshire by 73 runs, although there was some fight from the home batsmen despite the fact that they were stripped of eight points for a sub-standard pitch. Phil Tufnell would not have seen too much wrong with it as he took five for 35 including the wicket of Michael Di Venuto for 71. In fact, at one point, it appeared that Derbyshire might have been able to pull off an astounding victory, but it was not to be and Middlesex are now assured of promotion.

Essex went a long way towards joining the promotion party by forcing Durham to follow on at the Riverside. Michael Gough carried his bat for 75 as Durham were dismissed for 187. When Essex had Durham 81 for three in their second innings, they would have been justified in thinking of an early finish, but Brad Hodge (56) and Ashley Thorpe (95) added 136 for the fourth wicket. At the close, Durham were still 12 runs behind with only three wickets standing.

Steve Rhodes (124) and David Leatherdale (120) could not extend their seventh wicket stand significantly, and Worcestershire were all out for 397 with Andrew Harris taking five wickets. Bilal Shafayat was a lone figure of defiance in Nottinghamshire's second innings with 104, but the story of the day involved deputy wicket-keeper Jamie Pipe. Rhodes was injured while batting and could not take his place behind the stumps, so Pipe stepped in and took catches to dismiss the first four Nottinghamshire batsmen. Set 249 to win, Worcestershire lost both openers with only seven on the board and then two more wickets with the total on 35. With Graeme Hick still at the crease, they require another 208 on the final day.

Despite a hundred from Craig Spearman and 89 from Matt Windows in sharing a third wicket partnership of 185, Gloucestershire were forced to follow on by Northamptonshire. Spearman and Windows got fifties second time around, as did Alex Gidman, but they were not enough to deny Northamptonshire who won by an innings and 59 runs.